For Jules
by VegasGirl09
Summary: The team visits Julie in the hospital. Post "The End Game".
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Russell

At first all he could do was pace outside of her room, first at the ER when they treated her, got her breathing on her own again, and then tending to her injuries. He heard nurses mutter things like "head trauma" "brain damage" "multiple fractures" but he couldn't process those words entirely. All he could do was pace, worriedly, wondering what to do, how to help, if only he had gotten to her condo a few minutes earlier.

That next morning, a nurse who had been watching him all night, took pity on him and lead him inside her room in the ICU.

"It's nice that you are here," the nurse said with a smile "patients tend to respond to loved ones"

He nodded, unable to tell her that he was just a friend. But that was a lie. He was more than a friend to Julie. She was like family to him, even if he didn't always agree with her. She had joined the team amidst a traumatic event but he knew she would eventually fit in and she had; helping Henry with baseball tips, clearing Greg after he was accused of tampering with evidence, and working so hard to catch the Gig Harbor Killer no matter what the cost. Well now he could see what the sacrifice had been and he hated himself for letting it get this far.

The nurse encouraged him to sit in the chair by her bed so he did. She left to tend to other patients and he sighed, watching over Julie, eyeing the bruises and cuts on her face, feeling a wave of guilt hit him, why didn't he shoot Winthrope when he had the chance?

Reluctantly, he scooted forward in the chair so he could reach for Julie's hand which lay tenderly at her side. He squeezed her hand gently at first but then stronger, as if holding her hand could help her wake up, could take away his regret. As he sat there, the guilt bubbling inside him intensified to an actual pain stabbing at his heart.

"I'm so sorry Jules," he whispered knowing she couldn't hear him but praying with every fiber of his being that maybe, just maybe, she could.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Nick

After packing up the majority of his things from his locker and making plans to have drinks with Greg and Sara later, he drove to the hospital. He parked in his usual spot, rode the elevator to the ICU, greeted the nurses he had come to know in the last few weeks, and proceeded to enter Julie's room. Another nurse was there checking her vitals.

"Hi," she said "Nick right?"

"Yeah," he said "how's she doing?"

"Same," the nurse said "her body has healed, the swelling in her brain is gone, we just have to wait and see now."

He nodded, unsure what to say. He knew what the odds were when it came to extreme trauma. But he also knew those odds could be beaten and if anyone could do it, Julie Finlay could. He sat in the chair by the bed as the nurse left to finish her rounds.

"Hey Jules," he said "I know you hate that name so feel free to wake up any time and yell at me for calling you that."

As he anticipated she didn't reply but it was worth a shot so he kept going.

"I came to tell you that I uh, decided to take that job in San Diego," he continued "Russell convinced me, can you believe that?" He said you wouldn't want me to put my life on hold and after working with you for so long, I know he's right."

He stared at her seemingly lifeless body, still clinging to this world.

"I'll be honest though," he continued "this isn't easy, leaving." Especially since you have to be stuck here, it's not fair."

He thought about all she had been through with them as a team so far; winning that baseball game, rescuing Russell's granddaughter, sacrificing for practically every case.

"But," he whispered now "when I'm in San Diego, I'm gonna work to make sure nothing like this happens to anyone else, and I'll be checking in with Russell often, and I'll visit as often as I can, I promise you that."

He felt a pain in his heart when he spoke now. It was pain for her, pain he wished he could take away and inflict it instead on Paul Winthrop.

But he couldn't. He had plans with Greg and Sara and he felt he had said all he could to Julie for now.

He stood up; ready to leave until he remembered one last thing he had to tell her.

"Thank you," he said "for everything"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Sara

She never liked hospitals. Ever since her tumultuous childhood revolved around trips to the hospital, of made up stories that her mother had fallen when in reality the injuries reflected a darker secret. It was ironic that as an adult and a CSI she spent a lot of time in hospitals either with surviving victims of crimes or as a patient herself. But today it felt odd to be neither of those but rather visiting a very dear friend.

The nurses and doctors all remembered her and would smile as she made her way to the ICU and took up the designated "spot" in the chair beside the bed.

"I'm back," Sara said to Julie "I checked on your condo, they released it a few days ago so Morgan and I cleaned it up, we got all the evidence we need from your clothes so we washed those too, we had to throw away some milk in the fridge though, it expired long before you even got in here, you should clean out that fridge more often."

She smiled at the eye roll she imagined Julie doing right now at the way she was "mothering" her.

"We spoke to your landlord," Sara continued "he's not going to charge you for rent until you actually live there again so yay! No bills!"

She paused, feeling awkward now, unsure what to say next.

"I know you can hear me," Sara said "and I know you can hear the others too, I've been there before, I know what it takes to fight your way back from something horrific, working so close to death everyday makes that fight harder, but Jules you're tough, you can beat this I know it!"

She was holding Julies hand tight when suddenly she squeezed back. Sara practically jumped out of the chair.

"You heard me," Sara said breathlessly "I knew it! Come on Jules, squeeze my hand again!"

Sara waited, excitement building, had she really gotten through to her? Was this her way of starting to come back to them? Sara could already picture Julie back at the lab, practically bouncing down the halls, flirting with more forensic techs at conferences, singing Beyonce karaoke with Morgan at bars…

But after several minutes of daydreaming of old times, nothing happened. Maybe she had imagined it. That had to be it; she wanted desperately any sign of life that she made it happen in her head. All logic told her that was the truth but her heart told her otherwise.

"It's o.k.," Sara said tears welling up in her eyes "we'll try again soon."

She abandoned the chair now, hovered by the door, glanced one last time at Julies motionless form before slipping back out into the hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Greg

This was the last place he wanted to be right now yet he couldn't imagine being anywhere else at the same time. He went from hovering by the bed to eventually sitting beside it, leaning back in the chair but then sitting forward to be closer to her.

She looked so fragile which made him uncomfortable because Julie Finlay was anything but fragile. She had saved his life twice in the last three years, first clearing his name from that evidence tampering charge and again in that warehouse against Gig Harbor Killer's accomplice. She was quick on her feet, tough, sturdy, yet he couldn't save her from Winthrop like she had saved him. The irony of being the one to find her, to pull her out of that trunk yet unable to wake her up, ate at him like a disease.

Why them? Why was it always people he cared about? And in such violent ways? Julie didn't deserve this. She had so much life ahead of her, but here she was being put on hold while the world continued around her. How could people be happy when Julie Finlay was lying here robbed of life?

He had heard the nurses talking about the other visitors, the things they said to her, things they tried to do to get her to respond. If nothing they did worked what difference could he make?

So he continued to sit in silence with her while his mind wandered back to better times; Julie showing Henry how to hit a homerun, Julie dancing with him in the locker room, Julie smiling. Just thinking of her smile tore at his heart because a world without Julie Finlay's smile was a dull world.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Morgan

"You can do this" Sara encouraged her gently.

"I can't," Morgan insisted shaking her head.

"You're the only one who hasn't seen her yet," Sara reminded her "she would want to hear from you, I know it."

Morgan looked at Sara knowing she was right but still struggling to process the events of the last few weeks. While practically everyone else from the lab had gone to visit Julie in the hospital, only Morgan found herself unable to work up the nerve to go. It wasn't because she didn't care about Julie; it was because she felt terrible for what was happening to her. She had spent hours tossing and turning at night unable to sleep, wracked with guilt for not finding Julie in the trunk of that car sooner. She spent most of her time at work, dealing with Julie's cases she insisted on taking despite Russell's protests.

But after three weeks, and with Sara's help, she now stood in the hallway in the ICU about to see Julie for the first time.

"It's not so bad," Sara assured her "and the doctors want us to talk to her."

"But you saw her," Morgan said "how bad she looked, her face, there was so much blood."

She trembled at the memory of her friend being stuffed in the trunk of a car and left for dead.

"If we had only gotten there sooner-

"You can't blame yourself for that," Sara said "we did everything we could."

"Dad said the same thing," Morgan said sniffling recalling her conversation with her father about Julie which had also contributed to her decision to come and visit today.

"He's right," Sara said "wow, never thought I would agree with Ecklie."

Morgan gave Sara a curious look.

"Never mind," Sara said not wanting to upset Morgan any further with a history of her father's tyranny years ago. "just go inside, sit for a bit, talk to her, tell her what you've been up to, that's what I do."

Morgan nodded, pushed open the door to Julie's room slowly, looked back at Sara wanting her to come inside with her but Sara remained outside, nodding encouragingly at Morgan to go alone.

She kept her arms folded as she approached the bed, sitting on the very edge of the chair as if she were sitting on pins and needles.

"Hey Julie," she whispered "how are you?" Oh God what a stupid thing to say, I'm sorry, for that and for not visiting you sooner, the guys, well Sara made me, not that I didn't want to I just-

She stopped because she was rambling but did it really matter? She took a deep breath to recover then said "I miss you at work, talking to you, working cases, it's not the same."

"Sara's cool," she continued "but you and I, we were, well, we _are_ the new guys still, I like having that to share with you."

She bounced her leg up and down nervously wondering what to say next. She pictured herself with Julie and Sara at that bar in Larkston, dancing, drinking, singing, it made her smile, then whisper "Take it, take another little piece of my heart now baby, break it, break another little piece of my heart now darling."

Her voice grew louder, more confident as she kept singing until she practically screamed the last part "You know you got it, if it makes you feel good!"

She stopped, amazed at what she had done. She scooted the chair closer to the bed now and said "So for our next girl's weekend I was thinking…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Hodges and Henry

"Dude this isn't going to work"

"Have a little faith Henry, I've been researching this for weeks."

"You're gonna wake up the other patients,"

"In comas?" I doubt it."

"Someone's gonna see us,"

"Would you relax and just help me?"

Henry sighed, glanced nervously around the room and out into the hallway as he helped Hodges set up a radio/CD player beside Julie's bed. There was a case full of CD's on the nightstand along with printed out guides from various medical websites.

"This feels wrong," Henry said shaking his head as Hodges put a CD into the player.

"But it might help her," Hodges insisted "don't you want her to wake up?"

"Of course I do!" Henry said offended that Hodges would think otherwise "but if we get caught-

"We're visiting," Hodges said "we're her friends too."

He pressed play on the CD player and a classical violin song began to play. They stood by awkwardly listening to it, watching Julie for any signs of movement or response. None came.

"O.K, time to step up our game," Hodges said switching the player off and putting the radio on instead.

"_Baby I'm just gonna shake shake shake shake shake, shake it off, shake it off"_

"Taylor Swift?" Henry said "really?"

"I find her lyrics quite relatable," Hodges said plainly.

Henry rolled his eyes.

They switched between radio songs and CD songs for a good half hour until a nurse making her rounds saw them dancing and said "What are you doing?"

Henry jumped and Hodges switched off the radio.

"Uh we were just visiting our friend," Hodges said "I've been reading about music therapy for patients in coma's and I thought it might help her."

"Did you get permission to do that?" the nurse scolded them.

"No," Hodges said.

"Well don't interfere with Ms. Finlay's treatment unless a doctor gives you an o.k," the nurse said.

"What treatment?" Hodges said "all she does is lay here, we want her back so we're doing everything we can to help her, unconventional included."

"Because that's how Julie is," Henry added feeling brave "she's different, she doesn't always follow the rules but she gets the job done."

The nurse eyed these two alleged friends realizing what they were saying and doing was out of love and concern.

"You know," she said "most patients up here get visitors everyday at first but then life happens and their families can't always come everyday, sometimes its only once a week, but you two and the others, Mr. Russell, that reporter, you guys are here all the time, you really care about Ms. Finlay, and I think she can sense that so- keep it up."

She backed out of the room and Hodges and Henry exchanged glances hardly able to believe their luck.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 John

He came to the hospital about a week after he heard about the story on the news. The Gig Harbor Killer was in custody but had viciously attacked a member of the Las Vegas crime lab. At first he wasn't paying attention until her heard her name. He turned up the volume to be sure he heard correctly and when the news report flashed a photo of her from a previous case he felt a panic rise up in his chest. He dropped the story he was working on and bolted out the door for the hospital.

When he got there he ran into D.B. Russell, no surprise, who looked exhausted, physically and emotionally.

"Where is she?" John demanded to know "I need to see her."

"ICU," Russell said noting the panic in John's voice and how he didn't wait for further directions he just sprinted to the closest elevator.

Russell caught up to him before the doors closed and they rode it in silence to the ICU. When they got off, Russell stopped John just outside the door to Julie's room.

"Look, I don't think this is such a good idea," Russell said worriedly.

"I care about her," John said "I want to see her."

"I know you do," Russell said "it's just-

He glanced around the hallway nervously then at Julie lying in bed.

"She's gonna kill me if she knows I let you see her like this," Russell whispered fearfully knowing full well the wrath he would endure if Julie woke up to John Merchiston in her room while she was in a coma.

John gave Russell a confused look.

"You've seen her with a chainsaw right?" Russell asked unable to hide his smile at that memory.

"She's a fighter." John said "if that's what you mean."

"Yeah," Russell said understanding now how much she meant to John "o.k., go ahead, but if she jumps out of bed to strangle you, you're on your own pal."

"Thank you," John said pushing open the door to her room and sitting the chair by the bed.

Out of respect for their privacy, Russell didn't stay to listen to John talk to Julie. Instead he pictured her wielding a chainsaw, smiled and walked back down to the elevators.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Julie

_Ow._ That was the first thought that went through her mind. The second was "_Why is it so dark in here? _She could hear voices but couldn't see anyone around her. _What was going on? _

And then she remembered. Winthrop! The condo! Russell! She needed to tell him what happened. She tried to move but couldn't. Something heavy was on her chest, no, her whole body, what the hell?

_"Hey!"_ she called out but got not response _"it's me, it's Julie, I'm alive!"_

No one answered her. _Why couldn't they hear her? Was this death? If it was, why could she still feel pain? _

The voices came and went fading in and out depending on how hard she listened for them. She tried to talk to them, to get their attention but nothing worked. She couldn't make her mouth move nor any other part of her body. It was an odd paralysis that only affected her body while her mind raced with thoughts and a fear, what if she was like this forever?

After a while she started hearing familiar voices. Russells was the first. He was apologizing for something.

"_It's o.k,"_ she tried to tell him but the thought could not leave her head. She wanted to cry in frustration but couldn't make any tears fall.

"_Don't go,"_ she begged when she heard his voice fade away…

Shortly after that it was Nick's voice nearby. He was talking about San Diego for some reason.

_"Oh sure, take a vacation when I'm stuck here"_ she thought feeling offended _"real nice Stokes." _

But then he mentioned a job, something with a lab and she felt proud of him…..

Now Sara was with her, scolding her for leaving milk in the fridge and yammering on about the condo rent. Julie wanted her to know she was thankful for what she and Morgan had done so she reached for her hand like she had tried to do for days but this time she felt it! She squeezed as hard as she could and felt Sara jump. Sara asked her to do it again but that single motion left Julie exhausted….

"_I've always wanted to go to Chicago,"_ Julie thought as she heard Morgan make plans for another girl's weekend.

"_Yuck violin music?"_ she wondered as she heard it randomly one day followed by some bickering then Taylor Swift? "_Now that's better!"_

"Hi love," John's gentle voice whispered to her and she felt her heart ache and her stomach do a back flip "I'm so sorry this happened to you, I wish I could have been there to stop that monster."

She felt him brush strands of her hair aside and her stomach did another back flip. Then she realized how messy her hair must be, and her face, and oh God she was probably wearing one of those God awful hospital gowns! There was only one person who would dare to tell John to come and see her like this…..

"_D.B Russell you are so dead!"_ she thought angrily.

And so they came and went, day in, day out. Rotating their time with her and all she could do was sit and listen. Her body was a prison, her mind a myriad of thoughts. She grew tired of not being able to talk and she would doze off, if there was such a thing as mind sleeping while in a coma.

She had deduced that she was in a coma on her own based on what the doctors and nurses whispered about when they were near her. She had no memory of it though and that scared her. What had Winthrop done to her?

The more she thought about him the angrier she felt and the harder she tried to force her hand to move or her eyes to open.

The brightest light she had ever seen hit her suddenly blinding her despite her closed eyes. She squinted as the brightness intensified but it wouldn't go away. She turned her head away from it but realized she had no choice but to open her eyes. She blinked several times until the light no longer hurt and she could make out a white room and faces, real human faces swimming in front of her. The hospital, the nurses, they were real, she was awake!

"Well looks whose back," one of the nurses said happily upon seeing her patients eyes open "now don't you worry, you're safe here."

Julie had started to move restlessly in the bed and the nurse couldn't calm her down so she called for one of the doctors. Before the doctor could get there, Russell had entered the room on schedule for his usual visit, but froze when he saw Julie awake and moving. He practically dropped the bouquet of fresh flowers he purchased to brighten up her room as he raced to the side of her bed.

"Jules it's me, it's Russell," he said "do you remember me?"

"Don't call me that" she spoke hoarsely and he sighed with relief unable to hide his smile now.

"Boy have I missed you," he said grinning, a warm joyful ache spreading through his heart.


End file.
